Limits put on smoking lounges, tattooers

The Vista City Council extinguished a move that could have allowed smoking lounges in the city while it toughened standards for tattoo parlors.

The moves, unanimously approved Tuesday night, are aimed at making the city of about 96,000 residents more family-friendly, Mayor Morris Vance and City Councilman Bob Campbell said after the meeting.

Neither type of business now operates in Vista, and that is just fine with Vance and Campbell.

Campbell said tattoo parlors and smoking lounges “suggest an image that Vista does not want to embrace” and would conflict with the “family-friendly, healthy community” the council wants to encourage.

The ban on smoking lounges covers cigar bars and places for smoking flavored tobacco through water pipes.

The council limited the number of tattoo parlors allowed in the city to one per 40,000 residents and restricted where they can operate. That would mean that just two tattoo shops could operate in Vista.

The parlors must be at least 1,000 feet apart and 500 feet from any school, park or playground. They would also be restricted to certain commercial zones in the city, such as West Vista Way and Emerald Avenue.

“I just think that is enough for the city of Vista,” Vance said of the two-shop maximum.

The changes will take effect in 30 days. No one spoke in opposition on Tuesday.

Tattoo artist Peter Ramos, 38, said he endorses the decisions. He and his brother plan to apply for a permit for a tattoo parlor, called Art Ink, and are scouting locations.

“I think it is great,” Ramos said. “If we got a permit today, I could have customers the same day.”

In February, the city tightened regulations on new pawnshops, tobacco stores and bail-bond dealers in order to clean up the city's image.

In other matters, the council approved a 21-condominium project called Ironwood Villas. The development is proposed for 1.75 acres in west Vista, southeast of Iron and Copper drives.